Roseland, NJ. –September 8th 2009 – Expand Networks www.expand.com, the leader in optimizing WANs for branch office consolidation and virtualization, today announced that Clear Channel Satellite, a division of CC Media Holdings, Inc., and the leader in satellite communications for both government and large enterprises, has enhanced its managed service offering based on Expand’s WAN optimization technology. Incorporating Expand Networks’ Virtual Accelerator for service scalability, the optimized service, XtremeSat Plus, will enable Clear Channel Satellite to offer high-speed application delivery to both existing and new customers.
Offered as a truly managed service, the XtremeSat Plus service takes away the complexity of managing technology enhancements, upgrades and management costs for the customer. The monthly or quarterly pricing structure means that customers do not need to worry about the upfront costs of deploying the solution which offers increased improvements in IT resource and efficiencies while reducing IT costs and therefore saving on CapEx.
Neil Rickard, VP of Service Provider Strategy, Gartner, comments, “We have seen heightened interest amongst service providers for optimizing their offering to better manage the flow of traffic over satellite links, across all of The Americas.”
A major reason for Clear Channel Satellite choosing Expand Networks’ Virtual Accelerator (VACC) solution was its ability to be deployed within the existing virtualized IT infrastructure at the datacentre, running on Clear Channel Satellite’s existing server platforms, therefore eradicating additional IT cost and complexity. Furthermore, the VACC enables Clear Channel Satellite to easily scale its services on-demand by simply adding additional instances of its VACC onto the existing server platform at the datacenter, whilst offering flexible deployment options of physical or virtual appliances at the remote sites.
According to Monty Dent, Sales Manager at Clear Channel Satellite, the addition of Expand Networks’ high speed application delivery will address the specific needs of today’s performance driven, cost-conscious public and private organizations. He explains, “With its ability to dramatically improve application performance, this new enhancement option enables more organizations, users and applications to take advantage of our extensive and powerful satellite reach. The enhanced service delivers increased levels of performance across all business critical applications, ensuring enhanced user productivity at lower costs than previously achievable without optimization.”
Expand’s WAN optimization technology, with integrated Space Communication Protocol Standard (SCPS) technology, mitigates the effect of low bandwidth and high latency obstacles that can traditionally impede the speed and performance of applications over satellite links. Combining SCPS with compression, byte-level caching and layer 7 QoS, Expand’s technology can accelerate critical productivity tools and business applications across ClearChannel’s satellite environments by over 700%. The enhanced XtremeSat service, available now, is helping improve end user productivity at price points that rival traditional “land-based” connections.
Dent explains the benefits of the service, “Any location that can receive satellite reception can now realize high speed application delivery at reasonable costs, enabling and extending other key corporate initiatives to all remote branches. For example, Clear Channel Satellite customers can now implement cost-saving projects like virtualization and branch-office consolidation previously reserved for only terrestrial connectivity.”
“By offering WAN optimization as part of a managed service, customers can extend their communications investment to optimize the productivity benefits at reduced CapEx costs,” comments Andrew Mullen, VP Sales, Americas at Expand Networks. “As demand for optimum satellite performance rises, this is a compelling virtual proposition for service providers operating in this competitive marketplace. It’s not just about superior application performance alone, but coupling this with service investments that make sound economic sense for organizations looking to lower IT support costs.
Mullen concludes, “As a proven technology, Expand’s WAN optimization is adding clear value to Clear Channel Satellite’s managed services. By increase service levels, managed service providers can help organizations to increase efficiency whilst reducing complexity now and into the future, without the need for large upfront investment.”
For more information visit: www.clearchannelsatellite.com
About ClearChannel Satellite
Clear Channel Satellite is a leader in satellite communications for radio networks, television stations, government agencies, large corporations, small- to medium-size companies and schools. Clear Channel Satellite provides turnkey solutions with a well devised customer service department to support customers’ needs. Its new, state-of-the-art facility is located near Denver, Colo. with geographical redundancy and is manned 24/7/365. The large data center facility is one of the few with redundant connectivity solutions by both fiber and satellite in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.clearchannelsatellite.com. Clear Channel Satellite is a division of CC Media Holdings, Inc. a leading global Media and Entertainment Company. More information on the parent company can be found at www.clearchannel.com.
About Expand Networks
Expand Networks is the pioneer and leader in the WAN Optimization market and is positioned by Gartner Inc. in the ‘Leaders’ quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers, 2009[i]. Expand helps organizations simplify their IT infrastructure while delivering remote offices fast, reliable and secure access to networked applications. This results in improved user productivity and cost-effective IT management. Expand offers a multi-service integrated platform that ensures superior performance for any application over any network. From its headquarters in Roseland, NJ and its global locations, Expand Networks serves more than 3,500 enterprise and public sector customers in over 100 countries including: American Express, Bacardi USA, BMW, Continental Airlines, Carr America, Colgate, Elizabeth Arden, Reed Exhibitions, Target and United States Department of Defense with over 40,000 units deployed and over 2,000 MS Terminal Services and Citrix customers. Expand is the largest supplier of WAN Optimization products to US Government and Military agencies (greater than 10,000 units) and also has the most units deployed at a single corporate location, (4,500).
Expand Networks, Accelerator, Expand Compass, ExpandView are trademarks of Expand Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.